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Medication Safety Tips
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Do You Need to Worry About Items In Your Medicine Cabinet?
The answer is "YES" if you have a teenager or young adult living in or visiting your home. In a recent survey of students
in grades 7-12 conducted by Ontario's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, over 7% reported using an over-the-counter
(OTC) cough or cold medicine containing dextromethorphan (DM) to "get high". Nearly 3% of the students reported using
over-the-counter sleeping medicine such as Nytol for non-medical reasons. Nearly 18% of the students reported using a
prescription opioid (narcotic) pain reliever for non-medical reasons!2
The message is clear. Be on the alert for drug abuse problems. Review the storage locations of medicines in your home today,
to ensure that you not providing easy access to problem items!
2http://www.camh.ca/en/research/Documents/www.camh.net/Research/Areas_of_research/
Population_Life_Course_Studies/eBulletins/ebv10n4_DrugHighlights_2009OSDUHS.pdf
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. (2009, December). Drug use among students in Ontario: Highlights from the 2009 OSDUHS. CAMH Population Studies eBulletin, 10(4). Toronto, Ontario: CAMH.
This information was adapted with the permission of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, using
material originally published on the site www.consumermedsafety.org
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